Best Eco-chic Island Escape: Cousine Island, Seychelles
This private nature reserve and conservation island, located in the Seychelles, features just four luxury beach villas on 62 acres of preserved land. Although small in size, the island has long been a valuable haven to the wildlife of the Seychelles and is one of the few in the world that has managed to escape the introduction of alien mammals. This island gem is home to a variety of rare plants and animals including birds, butterflies, reptiles and turtles, and is also a nesting site for Hawksbill and Green turtles (almost 14,000 hatchlings are released every season). In addition to its conservation efforts, the island stores 350,000 litres of water and collects all rainwater, all waste is sorted and used for compost wherever possible, and power is supplied by a diesel generator. Solar power is also used in the villas to conserve electricity wherever possible.
For more information, visit cousineisland.com.
Best Eco-chic Weddingmoon: 9 Beaches, Bermuda
This ultra-casual resort leads the way in offering eco-chic weddings and accomodations for the green at heart. The resort has long prided itself on its environmentally friendly practices, and now you can opt for an ecologically sound wedding ceremony as well. Highlights of the hotel’s eco-chic wedding package include organic champagne, cake, flowers – even an organic cake topper. Even the decor remains earth-friendly by using simple but elegant designs like centrepieces using carefully gathered sand with naturally harvested seashells set around a clean-burning candle. To commemorate your nuptials, you can help Bermuda’s environment by planting a nearly extinct Bermuda Cedar tree on the resort’s property. Seedlings are then labelled with a personalized nameplate, so you can visit your tree for years to come.
For more information, go to 9beaches.com.
Best Eco-friendly Spa: The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Naples
The world’s most luxurious hotel chain knows your desire for products that are pure and beneficial to your well-being as well as the environment. For this reason, the Ritz-Carlton Spa, Naples, has introduced several eco-friendly treatments for guests including a Chinese astrology-based treatment called Elements, and the Eco-Luxe Facial and Eco-Luxe Cocoon both of which utilize organic, fragrance-free, non-toxic Osea products. In each service, the muds, seaweeds, clays and sea salts come in the purest form available and have been hand-selected from around the world. All the treatments can be experienced in the spa’s specially designed Eco-Room, which uses only soft materials made from organic cotton or bamboo and are washed in a separate machine using only fragrance-free and sulfate-free cleansers. The Eco-Room also includes a bamboo floor and chair along with a massage table made of completely sustainable materials.
For more information, go to ritzcarlton.com.
Best Eco-friendly Canadian Escape: King Pacific Lodge, British Columbia
Celebrate your nuptials with a carbon-neutral vacation on Canada’s west coast. Indulge yourself in the heart of the Canadian wilderness with a stay at a unique floating fishing lodge in British Columbia. Considered one of the most magnificent wilderness eco-resorts ever built, the King Pacific Lodge operates as a sustainable and environmentally friendly tourism model, eco-enforced with a recent plan to reduce its carbon footprint by half. Located on the uninhabited Princess Royal Island in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest (the largest intact temperate rainforest left on Earth), the lodge features 17 rooms and suites and was the province’s first hotel to sign a working protocol with an indigenous people, the Gitga’at, and, most recently, to offer its guests carbon-neutral vacations. The lodge, open from May to October, offers one-of-a-kind luxury adventure travel packages that include activities like interpretative hikes, sea kayaking, heli-hiking, fly-fishing, whale-watching and cultural tours with the Gitga'at, as well as excursions to view the rare Spirit Bear.
For more information, go to kingpacificlodge.com.
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